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The Jenna Thing (situation)
The Jenna Thing is the accident during which Alison, Spencer, Emily, Aria and Hanna blinded Jenna Marshall. The TV Show Version Night of July 4, 2009 It all starts when Alison claims she spotted Toby peeping through her bedroom window while the girls were getting dressed (later proven to be a lie). To get revenge, Alison suggests that they go to Toby's house to set off what Ali claims is a stink bomb in the garage (which was Toby's hangout at the time). Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer all don't think it's a good idea and Emily and Aria want to go back but Alison won't let them. She tells them it's a harmless prank to teach Toby a lesson and assures them no one is inside. Alison gets a match from Spencer, lights the stink bomb, and throws it into the garage. She then tells the girls to run, without explaining what she sees inside. The stink bomb, which is actually a firecracker, causes an explosion and the garage catches fire. that ends up blinding Jenna. After the accident, Hanna insists that they go to the cops and fess up, only to be yelled at by Alison. Toby lies to the police about the incident, saying it was he who set the garage on fire after Alison blackmails him with information about his and Jenna's physical relationship, thus making "The Jenna Thing" a huge secret for Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer, who were accomplices to Alison's prank and all lied to the police about it. Jenna also keeps quiet about the truth, lying in order to protect her own secret (coercing her stepbrother to be intimate with her), after Alison blackmails her at the hospital the day she disappeared. Even when Alison dies, however, Jenna continues to keep the truth behind this incident a secret. The Aftermath Before she disappears, Alison tells her older brother, Jason, the story, reversing hers and Spencer's roles in the story. She makes it seem as though it was Spencer's idea, Spencer's execution, and Spencer who pressures the others. Jason seems to believe the story and reveals to Spencer that he knows Alison's version of events when he goes back to Rosewood to plan Alison's memorial. Spencer seems to contradict him but it is unclear whether Spencer gave him the real version of events and whether his opinion is subsequently changed. Spencer blackmails Alison before she dies. When Alison threatens to expose Spencer's past relationship with Ian to Melissa, Spencer retorts that she would expose Alison's role in "The Jenna Thing." Probably trying to avoid exposure, Alison tells her brother a different version so that, if Spencer ever comes out with her version, Jason will believe Alison as she voluntarily revealed her story. Toby is sent to a reform school for a year after the incident. Jenna alludes to the incident in an essay for Mr. Fitz's English class in "A Person of Interest," letting her readers know that she believes the accident to have been anything but. Book-Series Comparison The Jenna Thing is slightly different in the books. Read The Jenna Thing (book situation) to learn more. In the books, the characters of Toby and Jenna are different from their TV characters. Jenna is unpopular, quiet, sweet, and is friends with dorky Mona Vanderwaal whereas in the TV show she is portrayed as Ali's vindictive rival. In the books, Toby is the one who forces the sexual relationship between the two of them. In the books, Jenna finds out about Courtney DiLaurentis and bonds with Ali over sibling problems. They plot The Jenna Thing together but things go awry. In the show, The Jenna Thing is a pointed attack at Jenna by Ali. In the books, all five girls see Toby outside the window and Ali seizes the opportunity to prank Toby. In the show, Ali lies to the others about seeing Toby peering into the window. In Unbelievable, when Jenna reveals to Aria her and Ali's plot to get back at Toby, she says that despite her loss of vision, she has no regrets. In the TV show, Jenna knows that Ali and her crew are responsible for her blindness but keeps her mouth shut to hide the secret about her relationship with Toby. In Flawless, in which the story of The Jenna Thing is told, Ali is the one who lights the fireworks and the others have no direct part in it. In fact, Emily, Hanna, and Aria never even leave Ali's House. In the show, they are all present when Ali lights the firework though the girls are hesitant to participate just like they are in the books. Navigational